Day 6

Old believers and Datsan

Ivolginsky Datsan

Day Schedule

➤Breakfast

➤Ivolginsky Datsan

➤Old believers village

➤Late check-out from the hotel

➤Late evening boarding the train to Irkutsk

Flags in Ivolginsky Datsan

Unique samples of old Buryat art, as thangkas, sculptures, ritual objects are gathered and preserved at the Ivolginsky datsan. Among the monastery's treasures, there is a collection of old Buddhist manuscripts written in the Tibetan language on natural silk, and a greenhouse with a sacred Bodhi tree.

As a cultural and religious monument, the Datsan is protected by the State. The Datsan Centre consists of such temples as Sockshin-Dugan, Maidrin-sume, Devazhin, and Sakhiusan-sume. There are also a library, a hotel, the Choyra (Faculty of Philosophy), Dashi Choinhorlin (building of the Buddhist University), Museum of Buryat Art, suburgans (stupas), some infrastructure buildings and lamas' houses.

Within the Datsan complex is the Korean style wooden Etigel Khambin temple which honors the 12th Khambo Lama whose body was recently exhumed.

Old Believers Village in Buryatia

The Old Believers are Orthodox Christians, who maintain traditional religious way of life and follow very old religious rules. They separated from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced between 1652 and 1666. Saving their lives, Old Believers had to run away to Siberia and the Far East. Many had to leave the country.

Another name of these people — Semeyskie or Family People — was given because they moved to Siberia with their big families. These special people keep the traditions of their ancestors, many do not recognize modern technologies, medicine and internet.